When first-time director Fredrik Bond got on stage at Eccles Theatre at Sundance, the Stockholm native was so excited to debut his film, “The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman,” that he brought along his hand-held camera and filmed the audience’s applause.

Bond, who now lives in Venice, Calif., with his wife and children, said afterward that the world premiere gave him the chance to hear a large audience’s reaction for the first time. “There were quite a few laughs in places where I didn’t expect people to laugh,” he said. “Of course, I love that.”

“The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman,” which is also in competition at the Berlin Film Festival next month, stars Shia LaBeouf as Charlie, a young man sent on an adventure to Bucharest by his ailing mother. A strange turn of events leads him to a young woman named Gabi, played by Evan Rachel Wood, and her tumultuous past. The film also stars Mads Mikkelsen, Rupert Grint, James Buckley and Melissa Leo.

Bond shared a ride to the Sundance premiere’s after-party with The Wall Street Journal to discuss the film.

Why did you choose to set this film in Bucharest?

I went to Bucharest to scout the city and just fell completely in love with it. Bucharest is Europe’s forgotten city. Romania hasn’t really been as embraced and loved by the rest of the European Union over the years. I wanted to find a place that was a little bit of an underdog, and something that hasn’t been discovered. I wanted Charlie to come to a place that was very unique.

In certain scenes, he really wanted to prepare for himself, so I’m not really sure, actually. In certain scenes he would arrive and I would just feel like he would be ready. I didn’t need to say much to him. He would just come on and do his thing, and it would be amazing. In the drug scenes, that was one of the places where he arrived on set and I just thought, wow, he’s in the zone, let’s shoot it. Other times we had more time where we really needed to discuss and caliber. Shia and I had talked a lot about these fake drug trips you see in movies. They can become very phony, so it was something we discussed every single day during the entire production. How are we going to do that scene?

Sundance Institute

Shia LaBeouf (left) and Evan Rachel Wood in ‘Charlie Countryman’

This film is like a fable told by John Hurt. How did you choose him to do the voice-over?

We tried a bunch of local voice-overs at first, actually, so as we were shooting the movie I kept recording different voices. It became apparent that having someone with an accent, a dialect, created more questions. People thought that would be a character in the movie. More and more I just felt it needed to be someone who was a clear narrator and storyteller. Whose voice, more than John Hurt, is the ultimate storyteller?

Some of the scenes are very violent and graphic.

It’s very important that Charlie goes through a real cathartic experience. It was a fine balance because I don’t really like violence that much, but if there is any reason for it, I think it’s important. Charlie needed to go through something extremely brutal to come out on the other side a new person.

You use electronic music throughout the film. Was that also to serve a broader purpose in the story?

I love music in film. I think if I could, I would have even more music. I really chose my moments when it was going to be quiet, carefully. I spent a lot of time with our different composers to find the right tone of the soundtrack. I wanted to find something that wasn’t too traditional. We have the opera house, we have old Bucharest, so I wanted to find something that was a little bit more unique, a unique universe that Charlie comes to, and also something that was a contrast to the classical world of Evan’s character.

How would you describe the tone of the film?

For me, it has an electronic heartbeat. It’s almost like Shia’s electronic heart beating through the movie.

For me as a first-time director it was incredible. I was extremely lucky to work with Shia, Evan, Mads. Shia really really set a bar – he came to Bucharest 1000% prepared and just set a bar for the entire performance.

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